Why you shouldn't use WordPress for a website

I get a lot of questions from dealers about WordPress including, whether we use WordPress as a company and why someone should choose a specialist company like us instead of WordPress. So I thought I'd put an article together to answer all of these questions and explain why we don't use WordPress, and why we don't recommend using WordPress for your business' website.

We'll be going over:

• As a business owner, why should you avoid WordPress?
• What is WordPress?
• Why do some web developers use WordPress?
• Lack of support
• Security of WordPress
• Reliability of WordPress
• Not very easy to use
• Slow loading speed

What is WordPress?

WordPress is a platform which was initially created as a platform for blogs. Over the years more features have been added so it can be used to create all kinds of websites.

However as it wasn't designed for stock based websites (such as those we do for Antique, Art and Vintage dealers) and as it is mainly used by the semi-professional community or web designers new to the industry, we frequently hear from prospective clients that they've been let down by WordPress, by a WordPress web designer, or that their site has been hacked or is just way to hard to use.

As a business owner, why should you avoid WordPress?

Let's face it, in this day and age you need a website to accompany your business. And what you want in a website is something professional, easy to use, and reliable. It needs to help you make money, not be a problem that you have to keep getting fixed.

Many of our clients have had a WordPress website in the past, and moved over to us because they've experienced issues such as:-

• Unreliability
• Slow running websites
• Their site getting hacked
• Insecure data
• Inflexibility
• Lack of expertise from WordPress developers (as many developers who use it as semi-pro's or "part time" web developers)

WordPress is used to build websites by the amateur or semi-professional community and isn't able to give you the security and stability you need to run a successful website  alongside your business.

Why do some web developers use WordPress?

As mentioned above it's used by the amateur community, enthusiasts or semi-pros and whilst it is fantastic for blogs and very simple informational websites, it’s not necessarily great as a foundation to run a professional business website to showcase your stock and generate enquiries. These people are usually designers and don't have technical experience so use WordPress and a load of different 'plugins' to staple the idea together instead of creating a solid and robust website.

In an ideal world when hiring a web company, you’d want one with developers who have both design and technical experience. So the designers make the website great looking, and the technical people make it function smoothly. Without the latter, or with the latter being not up to par, you’ll end up with a WordPress website that creates a lot of headaches instead of new business!

Lack of support if you need help

Because WordPress is a free platform, there isn't officially anyone to call if something goes wrong or if you need help. You may be able to call the person who created it for you depending on your arrangement with them but it could take them hours, days or even weeks to respond and action something that you need doing, as has been the case for many of our clients who have moved from a WordPress website to one of our websites.

With our specialist platform, created especially for Antiques, Art & Vintage dealers, we're always at the end of the phone to help.

Security

There are reports, near enough every week on security vulnerabilities where there has been a security issue found with WordPress and people’s websites have been going offline. WordPress is a prime target for hackers and spammers, even applying the security add ons (plugins) may not completely ensure that your website is safe from cyber attacks.

We’ve had lots of clients come to us for new websites because their website was on WordPress and was getting hacked frequently.

Reliability

WordPress is famous for it's frequent error messages and if you don't have much technical experience, this can be really confusing and frustrating because they're full of tech jargon and well... who has time to figure out what it all means?!

Not very easy to use

WordPress isn’t specifically designed for users who deal in Antiques, Vintage and Art and so those who use it for this purpose will sort of “stitch it together”. Due to it being created in such a way it can be very difficult to use.

Slow loading websites

Another factor WordPress is known for is it's slow loading speed which is bad for a number of reasons! First and foremost slow page speeds affect your search engine rankings and second of all it's going to frustrate your customer!

WordPress is bogged down with all of the large add-ons (plugins), crowded databases and confusing (and possibly unnecessarily lengthy) code, which can make for an unpleasant user experience all-round. 

Conclusion

We passionately believe in:-

• Easy to use websites
• Personal service
• Quality
• Robust

All of the above makes running a website to compliment your business a pleasant and stress free experience.

WordPress currently doesn’t live up to the above because it was purpose built as a blogging website, so in short it can't handle the type of features you would need on a website for your business.

Our platform is built specifically for Antiques, Vintage and Art dealers to give them something that is very easy to use (even if they’re a technophobe), is high quality, reliable… and we provide a personal service to match!

There's a reason why we've been serving the Antique, Vintage & Art community for 15 years (since 2004) and why we have 250 clients on board!

So talk to us today to find out how we can help you sell online easily!